Coulthard wins in McLaren 1-2

David Coulthard led from start to beat team-mate Mika Hakkinen in a race notable for a lack of any real action.

The Scot beat Hakkinen to the first corner having started second on the grid, and came out on top as the pair touched. From then on Coulthard was in control and soon began to build a considerable lead.

Coulthard said, ' I don't know what Mika's problem was at the start, we slightly collided at the start so maybe a bit of damage there was done to Mika's car.'

Asked about the championship and the imminent return of Michael Schumacher, he added, 'Win the races and you are in contention for the championship.

'Michael Schumacher's possible return does not affect how we prepare for the next race but we do expect Ferrari to be more competitive on his return.'

Hakkinen said of the collision with his team-mate, 'I don't want to talk about that first corner. What happened was unpleasant and I do not wish to comment any further.

'It is not a place where you expect someone to try and overtake. My car was not damaged in the incident, luckily. There was no point intrying to stay close to David because the car would overheat or it would not handle so well in dirty air.

'There is no point in battling between teammates because one of us could have gone off. David is not my biggest rival for the championship at the moment. Eddie finishing fourth makes the situation interesting for the rest of the season.'

Behind the two McLarens, Heinz-Harald Frentzen did a great job keeping the Jordan in third for another podium finish for the German.

Team-mate Damon Hill got in the points as well, finishing sixth and consolidating Jordan's third place in the constructors' championship.

Eddie Irvine looked to struggle with the pace throughout the race, and could not make any impression on the three leaders. However, he was pleased with the three points from fourth place because Hakkinen only won six points.

Irvine may have lost the lead to the reigning world champion in the drivers title race, but there is still plenty to compete for with four races left.

In fifth and the only team on a one-stop strategy was Williams' Ralf Schumacher, who put in a great performance, but the team's other driver Alex Zanardi failed to finish in the points in spite of running in the top six for much of the race.